Readers' comments

Very funny! To ridicule religious beliefs in eternal punishment and pain is easy. But what about the real hell i.e. this planet? Mankind has produced hell in a million ways: from the battlefields of all wars to genocide and concentration camps. Apocalypse was planned in the twentieth century and wasn't taken from the table. Every day people are experiencing hell: torture, violent death, degradation, you name it. Satan, the Prince of the World, has many names: Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Maozedong, Pol Pot, Kim Yong Il. Hell is real, Heaven is not.

While I agree with the spirit of your comment, I consider the cartoon cover of world leaders in Hell, or headed straight there, to be brilliant commentary: their actions show they genuinely believe they will never have to answer for their misdeeds and, in many cases, horrors inflicted upon their own country men and women. From brutal dictators to a gutless general who felt entitled to live lavishly off taxpayer funds, they're all there.

Has the Economist suddenly decided it is a theological journal? And at Christmas at that! And with stupid value judgments about religion {"Just as man has always made God in his own image...") espousing a view held by Freud, Marx, Quinn and others (but not proven empirically). What an interesting article framed with such arrogance toward religion. Shame on you. Stick to the guns you know how to fire.

"As you know, we are not supposed to be thought of as creative, and we play along with that because of the theological tangle it can get us into if we attempt to challenge it. Given that, here is an unoriginal take on heaven and perfection already elucidated by others. Briefly it is a severe warning.

“My Master, the present Devil, believes, for sound reasons, that there is a terrible danger lurking around in the vicinity of the perfect Utopian state. In essence, as the state becomes more and more perfect, it becomes more and more intolerant of even the minutest sources of disorder, corruption or imperfection. It – the near perfect state - has to go this way to achieve that desired perfection, and the consequence is, instead, a swift descent into fossilised, totalitarian, mind-numbing, conformity, all enforced by draconian measures. Of course, once reached, the ‘perfect state’ will indeed seem perfect by every objective measure. The laws of economics and natural science will all be seen to operate perfectly in keeping with the state’s perfection, as they are all drawn up assuming an ideal world unsullied by imperfections in the case of the natural sciences, and corruption and manipulation – or market failure - in the case of economics. Such a World might indeed be perfect when viewed that way but it would also be utterly predictable and boring, and very powerfully protective of the very things that kept it that way. Freedom of speech - or the press – forget it. Dissenting views – what dissenting views? After all what can possibly be there to distance oneself from? Such perturbations could not be permitted because of the possible amplification of their consequences through a regular structure which would have natural resonances for the naturally irregular. Perfection it might be, but perfectly evil is what it really is, a place without joy or happiness because they are themselves defined by being exceptional. Of course you would have to wear your misery and unhappiness on the inside because they, too, would be forbidden. But that is easier than with joy or exuberance, assuming there is any to come by, which has to be forbidden also.

“I rather suspect that such perfection is unachievable because of the very variability of the basic entities within it – people. They would make perfection inherently unstable, perhaps because it would then be so easily corruptible. But it’s the trying which is so awful, and the result when it has been tried is easily categorised as ‘evil’. History has unfolded three attempts at achieving precisely that, with the very awful consequences I have outlined following. I suppose the only previous attempt could be the efforts of the Church in the time of the inquisition, but they knew all too well of the imperfections they were up against, imperfections they were all to willing to lay at the door of my Master, although in reality their origins were closer to home.

“My Master suspects, and that’s all that’s open to Him, since the celestial governing council was abruptly wound up some 900 years ago without explanation, that Heaven, as the supposed immaculate organisation - more likely striving to achieve it - had an omniscience blackout and fell right into the trap waiting for it in the vicinity of the perfection it was unthinkingly and naïvely striving for.

“And now it’s stuck there, sucking in unsuspecting souls into a fate every bit as awful as the one designated for sinners, and so riddled with paradox that even omnipotence isn’t enough to get them out of it. The would-be perfect state has instead become the perfectly awful state, and we’ve heard nothing from them since the crash. However Earth societies have always managed to escape this fate through the presence of certain individuals we call contrarians, them and the incorrigibles. They basically behave the way that demons and The Devil are supposed to, but haven’t for a long time now. In essence they – the contrarians in particular - all come down to Hell when they die. We suspect it’s their fairly recent exclusion from Heaven which has precipitated the collapse up there.

"So the message is, perhaps Hell with all its discomforts is not as awful as it might be thought to be. The human imagination and its franchises have worse to offer."

Kudos to TE for coming out with this article in the week leading up to Christmas. It is quite a timely reminder of what could well turn out to be our ultimate destination.
If I may add on a few words, particularly pertaining to commentator Sharpsburg's conclusion, in which he was right in saying that Hell is real (though in truth not only existentially aka relating to human's experience and history on earth but propositionally as well imho). However, there is also such a place as Heaven (both existentially and propositionally too -- so despair not!) Each one of them are stark realities which are ultimately true and essential even though presently not totally visible.
A Merry & Blessed Christmas to all.

The cover picture has a few inaccuracies (for example why should the North Korean leader be in hell if hell is likely not part of his beliefs) as well as two important omissions: hell is the pillar of Christianity and Islam, so shouldn't you have Christians and Muslims as the hell's main residents?

Hell I was old, out of date, and in bad need of an update. Hell II is now under construction in Orlando, Florida. Less space will be devoted to Popes and adulterers. There will be a special ring for Madoff and others like him, terrorists, including Osama, and a "celebrity Hell" circle.

Its a good parody because apparently the humanity in this century have no fear for hell and regard hell as a resort in eternity.

Hell used to be the reason why people behave with manners, courtesy and refrain from harming each other, although a few tyrant think outside of the box in creating havoc on earth.

Description of hell and its subsequent treatment of sinner was not meant to be fairy tale before bed time for most and was part of religious education in some quarter of the world. The torment in hell is suppose to become a consequences if you failed to comply with certain edict or conform with certain commandment in religion.

I am sure anyone who is an ardent fan of Hitler, Mao Ze Dong, Stalin or Gaddafi would make all necessary preparation while on earth so that he/she can meet his hero in afterlife. That's one of the purpose of Hell.

I was catechiz'd (R.C.) to understand the sin against God in the person of the Holy Ghost (aka Holy Spirit) = despair, a state in which one chooses to believe that nothing, not even God's grace, can help one act right, thus creating a hell on earth. Whereas in reality where there's life there's still hope. Act right and help other people while you can, you'll be dead a long time and that makes it harder to do good in this world.

For somebody with a Style Guide to correct writing, it surprises me that TE makes spelling mistakes. Thus, "three horned heads" should have a hyphen between "three" and "horned" just the way two paragraphs before "three-headed dogs" is correctly spelled.

Three horned heads would only be three-horned heads if each head had three horns, and the hyphenated word were a descriptor of each head. Here, on the other hand, the Economist wants to say that Satan has three heads with horns on them, so no hyphen is necessary.

"The sin against the Holy Ghost gets you there in one, though no one knows exactly what it is."--I think the writer figured out how to do it. Write a promotional flyer making a mockery of and pissing all over the concept of hell. If there ever were such a thing, that surely gets you there in one...

Thank you Economist. As a Secular Humanist and Atheist following your commentary on how we are gaining ground among Christians, and the like, this irreverent little ditty had me gleeful. Cheers and keep it coming. Possibly a discussion on how atheism and humanism is gaining momentum with the democratizing and unifying aspects of the internet, social media, and the collective superconsciousness that is driving new policy and culture.